How did I become an F1 driver?

Of course, for Qin Miao, Hamilton and Verstappen, the sprint stage of the race was very calm, but there were actually quite a few unexpected events on the track.

First, on the 4th lap, Alonso made a rare mistake. T11 pressed onto the curb, skidded, and ran off the track in circles, then rushed into the buffer zone at the edge of the track and was forced to retire.

But the good thing about the old comrades is that even though the car lost control and rushed into the buffer zone, their sophisticated skills are focused on turning without crashing. Although Alonso got stuck, no damage was found to his car when it was inspected after the race.

However, because Alonso was stuck in a not very good position, a safety car appeared on the track.

The race was restarted on the 6th lap, and there were only 5 laps left until the end of the race.

Although the water mist raised by Hamilton's car in front of Qin Miao kept interfering with Qin Miao's vision throughout the process, the hydrophobic layer on Qin Miao's helmet goggles still gave Qin Miao some help at this time.

And Verstappen behind Qin Miao was also affected in the same way.

In addition, it is raining on the track and the race organizers did not turn on DRS.

Although Verstappen's RB19 is faster than W14 in terms of long-distance speed, without DRS, Verstappen cannot overtake Qin Miao.

Without DRS, Qin Miao had no way to deal with Hamilton in front of him. Even after he used his skills on Hamilton's head, the old man didn't react at all and finished the race uneventfully.

The final sprint is over.

Mercedes took first and second place, and Verstappen was third.

The final sprint scores are as follows:

P1: Hamilton +8
P2: Qin Miao +7
P3: Verstappen +6
P4: Piastri +5
P5: Gasly +4
P6: Sainz +3
P7: Leclerc +2
P8: Norris +1
When getting off the car after the game, Qin Miao looked at the old man walking towards him and hugged him helplessly.

In this game, Qin Miao served as the old man's wingman again.

In this race, Qin Miao did not encounter the same situation as Verstappen last week.

With Qin Miao's defensive ability, it is not difficult for him to avoid leaving too many loopholes for the car behind him when attacking.

The reason why he was stuck behind the old man for the entire race was not only because the F1 cars of that era were too long and too wide to overtake, but also because it was raining on the track, the race did not turn on DRS, and the old man himself was a powerful F1 champion driver.

Of course, the sprint race was not long, and with a dynamic start and a safety car, the race was over before Qin Miao could wait for his tire-preserving advantage to come into play.

So when Qin Miao saw the old man coming, he was full of helplessness.

As for Pan Zi...

After the game today, he was in a very stable mood, even calmer than Qin Miao.

Although he did not beat Qin Miao, the points gap between the 2nd and 3rd place in this sprint qualifying race was only one point. Verstappen, who had a 35-point advantage, did not really care about this one point.

After the sprint race, Qin Miao briefly reviewed the race at the team's home. Qin Miao, a driver who doesn't like rain races very much, couldn't help but start looking forward to rain during tomorrow's race.

Because he found that in rainy conditions, the speed of the W14 is actually similar to that of the RB19.

Of course, it is also possible that because there was only one practice session for today's race, neither of the two Red Bull drivers found the right training for the rain race.

Sunday: Main race.

The weather during the race did not go as Qin Miao and the Mercedes team wanted.

Although the weather forecast in the paddock said that it would rain on the track in the middle of the race, according to the forecast of Mercedes' meteorological department, although there would be rain, the rain would not be too heavy and would not last too long.

And before the race started, the sun was shining brightly on the track.

Of course, although the weather conditions on the track at this time are not very friendly to Qin Miao, Qin Miao still has the possibility of winning the championship.

After all, Verstappen started from sixth place, and his best tool, the old man, was right behind him, and there was also Leclerc behind him.

As long as Qin Miao makes good use of Hamilton and Leclerc, he will still be able to fight against Verstappen.

In addition, after the tire compound was changed, my advantage in tire preservation was back. In today's race where other drivers are likely to stop twice, I should be able to finish it with one stop.

Of course, this is the most optimistic scenario. After all, in the qualifying session on Friday, all the drivers who wanted to get on the podium knew how terrifying the RB19's single lap speed was after Verstappen turned on DRS on the track without rain.

And because this was the first practice session of this race, Qin Miao and his team did not have time to test the specific data and durability of the dry tires in Spa, so in terms of pit stop strategy, the team tended to be conservative in the tire selection they gave Qin Miao.

Under the premise that the drivers in the front row all started with soft tires, Mercedes chose neutral tires for Qin Miao.

Although it is very conservative, if you want to finish the yellow and white race in one stop, this choice is actually not a big problem.

Soon, all the drivers arrived at their positions.

After the race started, Qin Miao started normally from pole position, and entered the corner normally after reaching the braking point of T1. Qin Miao did not even defend his inner line. Qin Miao's reaction speed at the start of this race was too fast. Neither Leclerc nor the old man behind Qin Miao put any pressure on Qin Miao at the start.

After a successful start, Qin Miao entered the cruising mode to suppress the car behind.

After all, Qin Miao was using neutral tires at the time, so his single lap speed was definitely slower than the two drivers behind him who were using soft tires.

Qin Miao's idea was very simple. The performance of the car driven by the old man was the same as his own. Compared with Hamilton, Qin Miao himself had a disadvantage in tires.

But compared to Ferrari, Mercedes' W14 is simply faster.

Even though the tires were a little off, the performance of the car made up for it.

So in the next game, Qin Miao deliberately helped Leclerc defend Hamilton, and after DRS was turned on, he kept providing DRS to Leclerc, but did not give Leclerc the opportunity to attack him.

The old man actually discovered Qin Miao's intention.

After all, the old man had a particularly clear view of the two men, and he could also see Qin Miao's assisting defense.

Hamilton felt very frustrated after being defended by his teammates for a long time, so he complained to the team TR.

"I think we need to play offense and defense normally and fight fairly."

Although the old man did not clearly state what he wanted in the team TR, his meaning was obvious.

However, the Mercedes team is more concerned with appeasement.

"Lewis, we will discuss this matter. The most urgent task now is to find a way to deal with Verstappen who will catch up later."

After receiving the reply from the team, the old man actually wanted to say something else, but after thinking about it, he chose to remain silent.

In fact, from the perspective of the Mercedes team, allowing Hamilton to surpass Leclerc can indeed maximize the team's interests.

But if you think in the long term, letting Leclerc take second place in a race will not threaten Mercedes' position in the constructors' standings, nor will it threaten Hamilton's position in the drivers' standings.

Moreover, there are two people sitting in Qin Miao's car behind him. Even if Verstappen catches up in the later stage, he will most likely not get a very good finishing position in this race, and naturally the points he gets will not be too many. Qin Miao can catch up with Verstappen by a large margin in the driver's points list.

But there is also bad news on the track.

After the start, Sainz collided with Piastri. The right side suspension of Piastri's car was damaged, the speed dropped sharply, and he had to retire.

The sidepod of Sainz's car was damaged and he was overtaken by Verstappen before he had even completed half a lap.

Next, as Verstappen approached on the third lap, Perez received instructions from the team and gave up his position to Verstappen, and Verstappen's ranking rose to fourth.

There is nothing wrong with Red Bull's choice at this time. If Perez is leading in the first position at this time, Red Bull will never give Perez such a team order.

But after all, Perez's position was not very good at this time, and his teammate Verstappen was competing with Qin Miao for the world championship.

We definitely can't let Verstappen waste his tires in a place like this.

Perez could only accept the team's instructions.

Sometimes the F1 arena is similar to the e-sports arena. Being bad is the original sin.

On the 4th lap, Verstappen came to the DRS train built by Qin Miao himself.

Looking at the rear of the W14 in front of him, Verstappen was full of disdain.

It might have been difficult for Verstappen to control the W14 in the past, but now the person in front of Verstappen is not Qin Miao, and Verstappen does not believe that Qin Miao can provide Hamilton with slipstream and DRS through Leclerc.

Besides, although the RB19's straight-line acceleration and bottom speed are not as good as the W14, Verstappen used medium-low downforce tuning in this race. Isn't it easy for Verstappen to beat a Mercedes in medium-speed corners?

So Verstappen on the track began to try to attack Hamilton in the second period on the track.

After all, the cornering performance of RB19 is indeed better than that of W14, and Qin Miao really can't provide DRS for the old man from a distance.

No matter how good the relationship between Leclerc and Qin Miao is, it is impossible for him to help the old man defend Verstappen at this time. Even Leclerc, who has the tire advantage behind Qin Miao, occasionally pulls inside at the braking point before the end of DRS to put pressure on Qin Miao.

At a certain moment, Qin Miao even regretted not swapping the positions of the old man and Leclerc.

But things have come to this point, no matter how much Qin Miao regrets, he cannot change the current situation on the field.

At this time, Qin Miao can only leave it to fate. Whether he can defend Verstappen depends on himself. (End of this chapter)